How Israel can deal with Obama's second term

Certainly, this is a horrible situation. But just as demographics have
changed America, so they are changing Israel. Rising anti-Semitism and
economic decline in Europe have dramatically increased immigration rates
to Israel and those rates will only grow as the situation on the
continent worsens. In contrast to the rest of the West, Israelis have
become more religious, readier to embrace the free market and more eager
to compete in talent and productivity. While Americans have joined
Europe in dwindling fertility rates, Israelis have matched the fertility
levels of their Arab neighbors.

Israel's demographic and economic power have been largely ignored and
undervalued. But the time has come to use them for all they are worth.
As America enters its age of dependency and decline, Israel must end its
age of dependency on America and begin to depend on itself. That does
not mean that Israel won't cooperate with America. But as America's
foreign policy becomes indistinguishable from Europe's, Israel will
increasingly need to take its fate in its own hands.

We need to expand the size of the IDF ground forces. We need to expand
the size of the Navy. We should reinstate the Lavi jetfighter project.
We need to expand our independent offensive missile programs, developing
a serious cruise missile arsenal. And we need to promote a new
generation of generals that is not psychologically dependent on their
American counterparts.
As for the Palestinians, and the international, leftist anti-Israel
cottage industry that supports and feeds off of them, the time has come
to take our demographic advantage for a spin. As we decrease our
psychological dependence on America, we need to increase our trust in
ourselves. We need to staunchly defend and assert our rights to our
land. And we must exercise our right to defeat those who deny our rights
and seek our national destruction.

In other words, we need to begin applying Israeli law in Judea and Samaria.

True, talk is cheap. We can expect — indeed we were warned to expect —
for Obama to turn on Israel immediately after the election. Obama can be
expected to dispatch his political advisors to Israel to run the Left's
electoral campaign with the goal of defeating Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu and paving the way for the return to power of the socialist,
appeasement crazed Israeli Left. We can expect the State Department,
(under the guidance of New Israel Fund alumni) to renew its attacks
against Israel's religious institutions and the Jews of Jerusalem, Judea
and Samaria. We can expect the US to abandon us at the UN. We can
expect the US military to undermine any Israeli strike against Iran.

No one said any of this will be easy. But difficult is not the same as
impossible. Within a year, the consequences of Obama's failed domestic
and foreign policies will make him weaker rather than stronger than he
was in his first term. He will be hard pressed to pressure Israel when
the US loses its leadership role in the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated
Middle East. And Israel's independence of action will consequently grow.

I think a lot depends upon Israel's election in January. Too many Israelis place too much faith in our alliance with the United States. Too many Israelis don't understand yet how Hussein Obama feels about us and what that means. Yes, 85% of the Americans in Israel who voted cast their ballots for Mitt Romney. But those are mostly American immigrants who are both religious and right leaning. That's not the average Israeli, who still looks at America like he's Feivel the Mouse.

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About Me

I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com